One mic to rule them all?

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tojo

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sorry if this is dumb, but does anyone use just one mic for everything? For micing guitar, vocals, amps etc anything and everything? I find I can make do with just an audio-technica condenser. I was just wondering if anybody is in the same boat as me.
 
You're looking for a "Swiss Army Knife" mic, and most mics are really "One Trick Pony" mics. I usually see mics as being on a scale, two scales actually:

The first scale goes from "Swiss Army Knife" to "One Trick Pony".
The second scale goes from "accurate" to "euphonic".

All mics lands somewhere on both of those scales. Some examples of "Swiss Army Knife" mics might be the SM-7 or a Neumann M49.
"One Trick Pony" mics would be the Shure Green Bullet and the AKG C1000. The problem occurs when you think that a "One Trick Pony" mic is really a "Swiss Army Knife".

Most small omni mics are accurate, but noisy. Most large diaphragm condenser mics are euphonic by design, but quiet, and wonky off axis. Some mics have such high, shrill peaks that they severely limit their usefulness. Each type of mic has its own strengths and weaknesses.

There is no "One mic to rule all".
 
not a dumb question at all, but I have a dumb answer :-)


I was in the same boat for a while and recorded everything, vocal, guitar amps, acoustic guitar, sax, harmonica, "room ambiance" and backyard nature sounds with one mic. and not a "very good" mic either, tho I thought it was and still is a superb mic and I use is alot now. The mic is a Peavey PVM-22. I was on a budget and made due. was it the perfect mic? nope. did it do a good job on all these applications? nope. did I make beautiful music? yup!:D
 
LDCs giving out lower signal?

I thought larger diaphragms by nature put out more sound... I know my K2 is by far a stronger output than the SM81 I bought.

Or so that's been the experience of running them both through an M-Audio DMP3 (I certainly haven't done any actual signal testing).

As for my go-to mic, for a while there I was using a Rode K2 on pretty much everything, because my alternative was a couple MXL mics with shitty signal-to-noise ratio... don't know if it was the models or those particular mics, because people praise them for their quality verses cost, but I just didn't see it :p

The K2 (an LDC) was at the very least passable on all sources - certainly not the optimal choice for some (more like most) things, but the results were good enough for the time, for what I was trying to do. Would it be the only mic you need in a pro setting - no - but it'll do in a pinch, either due to circumstances or budget :D
 
cusebassman said:
LDCs giving out lower signal?

I thought larger diaphragms by nature put out more sound... I know my K2 is by far a stronger output than the SM81 I bought.
Click to expand...
By quieter, I meant that LDC's have less noise. Yes, they have greater output.
 
The Sennheiser 421 has been veddy veddy good at all-arounding for me...But then I have a limited mic cab...

Eric
 
Hi All,

The closest to a "Swiss Army Mic" I can think of is the Neumann USM 69 stereo mic.

Two LD capsules on top of each other, the caps derived either from the U67 or U87 (some say) with 5 polar patterns for each capsule. The mics run independently through a custom dual XLR with pigtails so they are completely separate.
The top cap rotates about 220 degrees, so everything from mono-on-mono, through narrow and wide stereo or figure 8 mid-side and pure omni is possible.....

Real stereo for, say, two guitars and a stand-up bass.

Mid-side for room use.

Studio vocal on one capsule, with the top one swung to figure-8, for instance, so you can sneak in "something different" during chorus, if you wish.

Field recording onto a digital two-track of either ambience or location musicians.

Pretty flexible, IMO. Once you've paid for it....;)


Best,
C.
 
The Sennheiser MD 441 is a great all rounder. In my opinion one of the greatest Dynamic mics ever made and much better than any 'cheap' condenser.
Its an obvious one but the neumann U87 is a great mic.
 
tojo said:
sorry if this is dumb, but does anyone use just one mic for everything? For micing guitar, vocals, amps etc anything and everything? I find I can make do with just an audio-technica condenser. I was just wondering if anybody is in the same boat as me.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think they're called the Cowboy Junkies and they used a Calrec Ambisonic
 
the shure sm57 does a great job a most things but it may require eq for some stuff.
 
I have successfully recorded vocal, piano, guitar amps, drums, upright bass, tablas, sax, and a few other things with one or two cardiod Oktava MC012's.
 
If I were picking a single mic, it would have to be a ribbon, and assuming you don't have good pres, it would probably be a phantom-powered ribbon. Ribbons tend to take EQ better than most other mics, so even if the mic doesn't present the color you're looking for naturally, you're more likely to be able to get it through EQ than with most other mics.

Just my $0.02.
 
dgatwood said:
If I were picking a single mic, it would have to be a ribbon, and assuming you don't have good pres, it would probably be a phantom-powered ribbon. Ribbons tend to take EQ better than most other mics, so even if the mic doesn't present the color you're looking for naturally, you're more likely to be able to get it through EQ than with most other mics.

Just my $0.02.
Click to expand...

Personally, I must disagree, I have had nothing but trouble when trying to eq ribbon mics. Of course I tried to eq out the trouble frequencies, but ended up scrapping the eq all together cause the song worked better with the more wonky piano sound.

Although, ribbons do take additional high end very very well.
 
...

I don't like "all around" mics, but for cheap the CAD M177/179, or if you have big bank the Manley gold reference are both good choices, still not great on everything though.

The rest of your audio chain factors in alot too. Keep that in mind...
 
Cosmic said:
Hi All,

The closest to a "Swiss Army Mic" I can think of is the Neumann USM 69 stereo mic.
Click to expand...

Some other expensive options if you're into coincident or mono miking:

1) The Soundfield mike... http://www.soundfield.com/products/mkv.php

2) The Josephson Series 7 mikes.... http://www.josephson.com/c700a.html

The mono version gives you figure-8 and omni capsules with separate outputs, allowing you to create all the standard patterns or process the omni and figure of 8 signals separately and create custom patterns.

The stereo version gives you omni plus crossed figure-8 capsules allowing you to track the raw signals and mix any coincident setup after the fact. The stereo version is basically the Soundfield mike minus the z-axis or vertical capsule.

I do most everything with accurate omni mikes. It just makes life easier for a self-recording project. I just pay attention to all the stuff that happens before the sound reaches the mikes and use the mikes to capture it accurately. Now that I don't close mike much any more, it also works well to use accurate mikes, either omni or figure-8, since they work best with my treated recording space, the Quick Sound Field.

Cheers,

Otto
 
Harvey Gerst said:
You're looking for a "Swiss Army Knife" mic, and most mics are really "One Trick Pony" mics. I usually see mics as being on a scale, two scales actually:

The first scale goes from "Swiss Army Knife" to "One Trick Pony".
The second scale goes from "accurate" to "euphonic".

All mics lands somewhere on both of those scales. Some examples of "Swiss Army Knife" mics might be the SM-7 or a Neumann M49.
"One Trick Pony" mics would be the Shure Green Bullet and the AKG C1000. The problem occurs when you think that a "One Trick Pony" mic is really a "Swiss Army Knife".

Most small omni mics are accurate, but noisy. Most large diaphragm condenser mics are euphonic by design, but quiet, and wonky off axis. Some mics have such high, shrill peaks that they severely limit their usefulness. Each type of mic has its own strengths and weaknesses.

There is no "One mic to rule all".
Click to expand...

Geez, here it is 2007 and we STILL can't make a "do-it-all" mic
What is wrong with the industry?

The BEST mic for everything is the AKG414. It is like a SM57 on steroids.

If I had 1 mic to choose from, it would be this one.

Of coarse, I mean the ones from like 10 years ago. I have no idea which one today as there are like 200 different models now.

They ALWAYS RUIN a good thing.
 
Only one mic

Hi,

If you only have one mic how can you compare them to see which sounds better?

Hmmmm. I didn't say that quite right. But maybe you get my drift.

More to the point if you only have one mic how can you record stereo?

Thanks,

Hairy Larry
 
hairylarry said:
Hi,

If you only have one mic how can you compare them to see which sounds better?

Hmmmm. I didn't say that quite right. But maybe you get my drift.
Click to expand...

No, no...You said it pretty darn good. And convincingly....I now smell a troll....;)

More to the point if you only have one mic how can you record stereo?

Thanks,

Hairy Larry
Click to expand...

This one is easy. For years all I owned was a SM58 and a Fostex X26. Lots of bouncing, double-tracking and stereo effects processing produced quite a bit of perfectly inaudible trash---In stereo...

Eric
 
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